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Estrategia

Energy Cities' main objective is to support European local authorities, in particular its members as they join the Covenant. To assist them in their local measures aimed at a minimum 20% reduction in CO2 emissions on their territory by 2020, the European network:
- Publishes its members’ initiatives and action plans as a source of inspiration for other cities,
- Encourages the exchange of experience and expertise between member signatories,
- Informs about available tools aimed at preparing and implementing sustainable energy action plans,
- Relays the expectations of the signatories to the European institutions via a Covenant of Mayors task force created within the Energy Cities Board,
- Informs its members about developments in the EU energy and climate policy.

Benchmarks

BELIEF – Local Intelligent Energy Forums

Category: Awareness raisingDescription: The successful implementation of sustainable energy policies requires not only the firm commitment from the side of local authorities, but also the involvement of citizens and local stakeholders. Local Intelligent Energy Forums are designed to contribute to meet this challenge.
Based on the concept of energy citizenship, Local Intelligent Energy Forums represent a visionary approach that brings the local governance to a whole new level. The ultimate objective of this unique initiative is the creation of Sustainable Energy Communities, where both local authorities and citizens work together to bring about a desirable energy future of their municipality.
Local Intelligent Energy Forums turned out to be a perfect solution to shortcomings of conventional approaches. With the lack of a real citizens’ participation, it is often difficult to implement the Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) of a given municipality, no matter how well-prepared it would be. For this reason, a more concerted and co-ordinated approach is necessary. Apart from conceiving the energy policy through the exchange of thoughts between particular actors, Local Intelligent Energy Forums allow to involve the citizens and local stakeholders in a further implementation of the SEAP.
The experience of 20 local authorities from 11 European countries demonstrates that such an approach is much more effective than traditional solutions. Rather than implement a set of dispersed actions, particular cities involved in the BELIEF (Building in Europe Local Intelligent Energy Forums) project decided to rely on a more co-ordinated local energy policy.

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